With an explosive burst of speed on the steepest part of the short climb near the finish of today's stage of Tirreno-Adriatico Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) secured the season's first WorldTour victory for his team. As the world's strongest rider in those kind of finishes Rodriguez felt that he was heavily watched by his competitors.

Joaquin Rodriguez has made finishes on short, steep climbs his specialty, and few are able to challenge the small climber in his favoured terrain. Last year his victory in Fleche Wallone, one stage victory in the Giro and two of his Vuelta triumps were all due to his ability to make the most of his explosiveness under such circumstances.

Today's traditional finish in Chieti had, however, eluded him so far, and he was eager to make up for this gap in his palmares. His mission was a success even if he admitted that his strength had made him a heavily watched person.

"I remember very well the final part of this stage and its incredibly tough stretch," Rodriguez said. "We were very careful from the beginning to the end because we knew it was very difficult to win here in Chieti: everybody was expecting something from me, they know these finals are my specialty."

With the long battle over Katusha's ProTeam license in mind, the victory had a special symbolic meaning to Rodriguez and his Russian team.

"I'm very happy for this performance, it was very important both for me and for the team, since it's the first in a World Tour race."

No overall ambitions

With a weak performance in the opening team time trial and Rodriguez suffering on yesterday's mountaintop finish, all hopes of overall glory are gone. Instead, the team will turn its eyes to a bid for another stage victory.

"Tomorrow there will be another long, demanding stage. We're not fighting to win the final classification anymore, but we will try to take a good result anyways, also because my teammates are in a great shape. We should put one of us in the breakaway, then we will attempt something. We have nothing to lose."

The race continues with its sixth stage, a 209 km leg around Porto Sant'Elpidio. It is a rolling affair which seems perfectly suited for a breakaway. Expect to see Katusha on the attack in their search for more success before the race finishes with a time trial on Tuesday's final stage.